County Championship

Yorkshire's heavyweights make light of poor start

There is a small but select group of cricketers who, though not quite good - or perhaps lucky - enough to establish themselves as regular internationals, will always be a class act at county level.

Anthony McGrath is one. It has been been almost a year since Yorkshire last won a match in the County Championship and, when they were reduced to 186 for seven after winning the toss and batting, it was hard to believe that miserable run was not going to be extended. It may yet, of course, but courtesy of McGrath they are in the driving seat, his unbeaten 140 on a seaming wicket as impressive in its own way as any of the 20 first-class centuries of his career.

There was something about the pitch that suggested it had been a good toss for the visiting captain Craig White to have won but, having promoted himself to the top of the order, White struggled to lay a bat on Mick Lewis. Having played and missed five times as the ball jagged around, he was firmly anchored on his back foot when Ottis Gibson pitched one up to trap him in front.

Joe Sayers at the other end looked rather more solid until he lost patience and drove loosely at a wide delivery from Gibson, and when Michael Lumb was given out leg-before to one from Lewis which might have clipped leg stump, Yorkshire were struggling on 51 for three.

No one, however, could describe either McGrath or Darren Lehmann as fragile, temperamentally or physically. Knowing they were likely to play and miss at least once an over, they simply got on with dealing with the next ball. As far as Lehmann was concerned, if it was wide of off stump he would try to score. Three boundaries off one Callum Thorp over, two steered delicately through the slips, took him past McGrath, and even a pulled calf muscle during a not particularly quick single could not prevent him reaching his half-century from 48 balls.

Hampered by his injury the Australian was dismissed by Gibson soon after lunch. McGrath, however, went to his 50 with two classical off-drives off Gibson and, though he quickly lost Tim Bresnan, Gerard Brophy and Richard Dawson, he found an ideal partner in Jason Gillespie who stuck around long enough for him to reach his hundred.

When McGrath finally ran out of partners Yorkshire got stuck into Durham's top order. Gillespie soon removed the opener Jon Lewis for six and Deon Kruis put paid to Jimmy Maher (16) to leave the home side on 64 for two at stumps.